Musical instrument



(No Model.) 5

J. BRAND.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Dec. 10,5895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB BRAND, OF SYRACUSE, NEIV YORK.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,254, dated December10, 1895.

Application filed January 12, 1895. Serial No. 534,612. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J ACOB BRAND, of Syracuse, in the county ofOnondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Musical Instruments, of which the following, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to the class of musical instrum ents which have aseries of musi cal strings stretched over a sounding-board and movabledampers over said strings to muffle one or more of them while theremainder of the strings are played by the hand of the performer.

The object of the invention is to obtain a greater range of musicalchords from the instrument; and to that end the invention consists of acase formed with parallel sides and provided with longitudinal guides onsaid sides and with frets across one end of the sounding-board, a yokesliding in said guides, a capo tasto attached to said yoke, anddamper-bars and adjustable dampers connected to said bars, all ashereinafter more fully described, and specifically set forth in theclaim.

In the annexed clawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a musical instrumentembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on line X X inFig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections respectively on lines Y Yand Z Z in Fig. 1. Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged detail views of theadjustable damper sections or bearings, and Fig. 7 is a diagrammaticplan view of the dampers.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The instrument is more especially designed to be placed upon a table oranalogous support during the performance of the music, and for thisreason the resonant-case G of the instrument is formed with a flat backB and with a corresponding flat sounding-board O.

a a 0. represent the musical strings which are parallel side by side andstretched lengthwise over the sounding-board O and secured to oppositeends of the case. Said strings are attached at one end to the usualtuning-pins e e and preferably tuned to the chromatic scale.

(7, (Z (Z represent a plurality of independently-operating damper-barswhich extend across the series of strings a a and are sustained normallyout of contact with the strings by means of springs b I), interposedbetween the ends of the bars and subjacent portions of the case 0, asshown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. By means of pins f f, projectingvertically from the case and into holes in the bars, the latter areguided in their movements to and from the strings. Each of saiddamper-bars is provided on its under side with cushions or pads h h,constituting the dampers proper, between which dampers are blank spacesa, which are so arranged that when the damper-bar is depressed to bringthe dampers to bear on the strings the said blank spaces will release aset of strings,the tones of which form a musical chord.

The dampers on each bar are arranged in different relative position fromthose on the other bar, as illustrated in Fig.7 of the drawings, so thatby depressing the different bars different sets of strings are released,the tones of each of which sets form a different chord.

In playing the instrument, the performer depresses one of thedamper-bars d and sweeps with his thumb or one of his fingers or asuitable instrument across the series of strings, the dampers h 71 ofsaid bar allowing only the released strings under the blank spaces 7; cto sound and produce the desired musical chord.

By means of the seven damper-bars seven different chords in differentkeys can be produced, including major, dominant, submaj or, subdominant,and minor.

To further increase the range of music capable of being played on theinstrument, I provide preferably all of the bars (Z with adj ustabledampers h, which are connected to slides movable lengthwise of the bars,so as to allow the dampers h to be shifted from the subjacent string tothe next, and thus change the chord either from major to minor or fromdominant to major, as may be desired.

The adjustable connection of the slide to the bar d can be made invarious ways, two of which are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 of thedrawings. In Fig. 5 the said slide consists of a screw Z, passingthrough a longitudinal slot in the bar cl and through a correspondingslot in a metal plate j, fastened to the top of the bar (1, upon whichplate the head of the screw rests. 011 the lower end of said screw is anut n, to the under side of which is cemented or otherwise fastened thepad h,which constitutes the adjustable damper.

In Fig. 6 the slide consists of a metal plate I, sustained on the sideof the bar d by screws 0 0, passing through horizontal slots 0 0 in saidplate and into the bar. The top of the plate is provided with a handleZ, by which to shift the plate. The bottom of the plate is formed with ahorizontal flange extending under the bar (Z and having secured to itthe pad h.

c c 0 denote frets distributed from one end of the sounding-board,partway the length thereof, in the usual manner, so that by depressing astring between two frets the tone of said string is changed, and thusthe instrument may be played similar to a zither or guitar. Thedamper-bars d d in that case are left undisturbed unless a special chordis to be struck during the performance of the music, said chord beingthen produced by depressing the required bar at and sweeping the thumbof the operator across the strings. Said frets, however, are moreparticularly designed to be used in connection with the damper-bars d dd and the capo tasto D, which latter extends across the series ofstrings and is connected to the case 0 by the yoke D of the capo tastohaving on its ends the blocks or bearings 25 If, by which it slides inlongitudinal guides 2i i on the sides of the case. By shifting said capotasto so as to allow it to be brought to bear on the strings between twofrets at the desired position the tones of the strings are changed inthe usual manner to a different pitch and the chords produced by theemployment of the damper-bars in the manner before described are changedto different keys.

Having described my invention, what I claim is The improved musicalinstrument consisting of the case -C formed with parallel sides andprovided with longitudinal guides t-t on said sides and with frets cc,the yoke D sliding in said guides, the capo tasto attached to said yoke,and the damper-bars dd and adjustable dampers 72 connected to said bars,substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 28th day ofDecember, 1894.

JACOB BRAND. [L. s]

Witnesses:

JOHN J. LAASS, O. L. BENDIXON.

